By Kris Smith
The Stars are searching for their first win in the league campaign as they play their third Elite League fixture and Guildford sit just two points ahead in seventh, after winning their opening league game.
Last weekend, the Stars were beaten 5-2 by Glasgow Clan in Challenge play and 6-2 by Sheffield Steelers in the league but they showed improved performances as they try to curtail a six-game losing run.
Both matches scorelines were inflated by late goals as Dundee gambled after cutting their opponents lead to 4-2 in the third period of Saturday’s game in Glasgow and again on Sunday, after 50 minutes of play had the two teams locked in at 2-2.
Kameron Kielly and Jake Elmer found the back of the net for the Taysiders against the Clan and Elmer was on target again the next day against Sheffield, as was Brendan Harms, while goaltenders, Richard Sabol and Jarrett Fiske split the duties over the weekend.
Paul Dixon’s Flames are coming into tonight’s game off the back of a pair of defeats last weekend as they lost 2-1 to Coventry Blaze in Group A of the Challenge Cup and then fell 3-2 to Cardiff last Sunday.
The Stars are on the road all weekend as tomorrow night they face Cardiff Devils in South Wales, in their first meeting with Pete Russell’s side this term.
Discussing how he prepares his side for this weekend’s road games, Stars Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre said: “I thought last week we took a step on Sunday, we took the best team in our league and played them tight right up until the final 10 minutes of the game and then a few mistakes end up in the back of our net and that is the difference right now.
“Every mistake we make ends up in the back of our net, while every positive thing we get great opportunities from but we do not put them in the back of the net and make teams pay.
“The guys know the task at hand and these are the kind of road trips that bring teams together, so we want to come out with some positive re4esults this weekend and get things going back in the right direction.”
“He continued: “Both teams bring two completely games but the one thing we know about both is they are loaded with speed and skill, so we have to limit that and their playmaking abilities, as well as staying out of the box.
“We just have to compete and make sure more positive things happen than negative and when the negative things happen, we just have to keep moving forward, we keep pushing and we do not give up.
“It is a big task playing two great teams but all 10 teams in our league are competitive this year.
The Stars will play Guildford and Cardiff in back-to-back away double headers twice this year and LeFebvre is happy to see the travel schedule improving this season, he said: “One of the biggest things for me this summer was the schedule and getting rid of this stupidity of going all the way down the country then having to come all the way back up to play at home the next day, or vice versa.
“If you are playing far away then you should have two road games back-to-back and we have pretty much accomplished that as we will play Guildford and Cardiff back-to-back for the most part this season, so credit to our owners as they have given us a chance to get down there the day before, get ourselves the proper rest and the opportunity to win a hockey game.”
Face-off time for tonight’s road game in Guildford is at 6pm.
All images: Derek Black.
